Helen Mirren On Meeting Queen Elizabeth II: “I Was Terrified!”

With so much experience in Hollywood over the years, it doesn’t seem like anything could intimidate Helen Mirren anymore.

However, in her new feature article in the August 2014 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, the “Calendar Girls” gal admitted she freaked out when she met Queen Elizabeth II.

She told Oprah Winfrey, “I was terrified. There are certain people who can deal with meeting the queen. But the vast majority of us get queenitis. You just – you cannot think of anything to say.”

However, Mirren was also taken aback by winning an Oscar for portraying the English royal in her film “The Queen.” “The Oscar is just one of those amazing, magical moments that came out of the blue. Years ago, there used to be an ad in England for the lottery that featured an ordinary family going about their life and this big, sparkly finger coming out of the sky and pointing in through the window as if to say, ‘It could be you, winning the lottery.’ I feel that way about the Oscar. It was a big finger that came out of the sky and said, ‘It’s you.’ You witness in your life so many talented people who deserve the greatest success but are not getting it for all kinds of reasons. So much of it is hard work, but it’s a lottery as well.”

And though she didn’t marry her husband Taylor Hackford until 1997, Helen has no regrets about waiting so long to get hitched. “I used to say to Taylor, ‘I wish we’d met earlier on. We’ve missed so much time together.’ And he’d say, ‘We’d never be together now if we met earlier.’ And I think he’s actually right because we were both on a trajectory of work and ambition and, of course, to a certain extent, wanting to resolve ourselves as ourselves. Before I met Taylor, all my relationships took second place to my work. If I had to go to Africa, it was ‘Bye-bye, I’m off to Africa.’ And then he came into my life, and I started thinking, Maybe it’s time to have a different attitude – and to say that my relationship is at least as important as my work. To give it the time.”